Elara’s POV
The air in the clearing was suffocating, heavy with the acrid tang of blood and the weight of an unspoken truth. The stillness pressed against me, broken only by the ragged breaths of Sergio, crumpled and defeated. His russet fur was matted with blood, his once-proud frame now trembling as if the earth itself was trying to drag him down.
I knelt beside him, my fingers trembling as they brushed through his fur. It was warm—still alive, still fighting—but fading. Sergio, the wolf who had once been my protector, lay shattered before me.
“Sergio,” I whispered, my voice cracking under the weight of his name. His eyes fluttered open, the amber dulled with pain, and met mine for a fleeting moment.
I wanted to believe I could save him. I wanted to believe in something other than th
